Boston Faith-Based Alliance Offers Community Safe Spaces for Vaccination

The BMA TenPoint alliance of churches, faith and community-based organizations serves diverse communities throughout the Greater Boston area. Through a recent initiative, Organizing for Health & Wealth, they often hold vaccine clinics in local churches in collaboration with community health centers. One member of Bethel A.M.E. church attended a BMA TenPoint summer clinic there. Initially apprehensive, she later told clinic staff that seeing the COVID-19 vaccine offered at her church helped her make the final decision to vaccinate. Indeed, feedback from the Organizing for Health & Wealth exit survey found one third of participants were influenced by the clinic location at a church. As another clinic participant wrote in an exit survey, "Just being in God's house, it just felt right.” With a legacy dating to the 1960’s civil rights movement, BMA TenPoint draws on long-standing community partnerships to host such vaccine clinics in safe, familiar faith-based spaces.